What You Should Know About COVID-19 Booster Shots
The wrath of COVID-19 continues to wane although it is clear that we are not out of the woods as of yet. The seven-day average of cases was down to 73,896 on 10/22/2021 which represents a 25% decrease compared to 14 days ago. Hospitalizations are down 19% during that same period. The seven-day average of deaths remains bothersome although down 15%. We are still losing slightly more than 1,500 Americans a day and the total number of COVID-19 deaths is over 735,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. The Delta variant is responsible for 99% of the current COVID-19 deaths in the US. The good news is that we have three safe and effective vaccines in our country. Approximately 66% of Americans have had one dose of a vaccine and 57% have been fully vaccinated. We still have 50M adults unvaccinated.
Vaccines truly represent our ticket out of this pandemic. The death last week of 4-star General Colin Powell from the complications of COVID-19 demonstrates that even the vaccines will not prevent every death. He was one of many Americans who are immunocompromised and therefore remain more vulnerable even after being fully vaccinated. Those Americans, as well as our children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, can be best protected from the ravages of COVID-19 by every eligible adolescent and adult getting fully vaccinated. In addition, as we follow those who have already been vaccinated it has been discovered that their immunity is beginning to decrease. This phenomenon of waning immunity is not unusual. The CDC has thus approved and recommended the administration of another injection, called a “booster” for certain populations at this time. The who and when boosters are to be administered varies. Let us attempt to bring clarity to the CDC recommendations.
According to the CDC, if you are in the following group of people and you received the Moderna or the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at least six months ago, you are eligible for a booster: 1)65 years and older 2) Age 18+ who live in long-term care settings 3) Age 18+ who have underlying medical conditions 4) Age 18+ who work or live in high-risk settings. The Moderna booster should be half of one of the original doses and the Pfizer booster dosage should be the same as the original dose.
About fifteen million Americans received the single dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccination, and they are eligible for their full-dose J&J booster TWO months after their initial vaccination.
It is important to note that the FDA and CDC have approved a “mixing-and-matching” approach to boosters. This means that although many people will want to get the same booster as their initial injection, there is no scientific reason to stick to the same brand of vaccine. As you make your decision for which booster you will take, consider a recent NIH study which shows that receiving any different vaccine as a booster increased one’s antibody level. Most notably, a person who had an initial J&J vaccination the increase in antibody levels after a subsequent J&J booster was fourfold, compared to a 35-fold increase after a Pfizer booster, and a 76-fold increase after a Moderna booster!
We are all eager to get back to our lives without COVID-19. Unfortunately, the SARS-Cov-2 virus may well become endemic whereby it continues to cause illness in an exceedingly small number of individuals on a regular basis. The CEO of Pfizer is predicting that it will be about a year before this pandemic is over. Ridding America of the pandemic will be helped by the boosters, eligible Americans experiencing a change of heart or mind about getting vaccinated, and the authorization for vaccines for children ages 5-11. The latter will be considered by the FDA starting on 10/26/21.
Lastly, we need to do everything possible to keep ourselves healthy while we fight this COVID-19 scourge. Our masking, social distancing, flu vaccinations, and handwashing drove the flu to a historic low, globally, over the last 18 months. In fact, one strain of influenza may have been eliminated completely according to epidemiologists. If we maximize vaccinations and mitigation measures, we will drive down COVID-19 as well.
